Mahika and Nancy are ready for a game of football.
Always fun when Frank Galicia is around. These goof balls hijacked Mahika's camera to take these silly pictures.
It was boiling hot and the sand would burn your feet but of course there were Chinese vendors walking all along the beach. This guy is selling fruit, not the fruit we would want to eat, but Chinese fruit. I haven't figured out why they eat some of this stuff. It usually is a pain to eat and not worth the effort. He had these small fuzzy grape looking things that you peel and eat the slimy stuff inside that has a huge seed in the middle. It just is never worth the effort because the amount of fruit you actually eat is really tiny and they have no taste what so ever.
Is that actually a volleyball in his arms and not a basketball? Doesn't matter what the sport is, Gavin is always willing to play.

Blair and Rachel being their cute little selves. Blair has become our other daughter because she fits right in with us, looks and all.

As hot as it was, it was still fun to play in the sand. Of course we had to make sure we were covered with sunblock, rash guards, and hats. Last year we made the mistake of not covering up enough and came back red lobsters. We weren't about to make the same mistake twice.
A book is always good to read anywhere. Boy I'm getting old. The glasses don't help much but good thing I only have to where them when I read.
Beautiful Rachel
At one point we all scrambled out of the water when Frank noticed little jelly fish floating around. He is quite the biologist (being the IB Biology teacher) and loves to explore any type of marine life, animal, plant, you name it. We all got out of the water while he gave us a mini lesson on jelly fish.

This is the little culprit to our mass exit of the water. Some of the Chinese were playing with them in their hands until they got stung a little.

Mt. Timp Hike

Every year Gavin climbs Mt. Timp with his friend Chris. This year it happened to be the day before we left Utah for China. They woke up at 4:30 in the morning to start their hike and were back by 1:00 in the afternoon. They didn't take skis this time to ski down the glacier because their wasn't much left of it this time of year but they had a few tales about their sliding on their bottoms to get down the glacier.
Chris trying to warm up before they headed back down.
Every year Gavin writes this message up in the post at the top of the peak.

The Last Picnic

A few days before we flew back to China on August 11, we had one last family time together up in Provo Canyon. Ranell and Mike rode the bikes out, Heidi and Josh with their two kids drove out, and Oma and Opa joined our family along with Chris Burton, Marsi, and Ryley. We were even surprised to see Lars and Lauren there. It was a great way to end our summer in Utah. We started off with a fun game of Frisbee Football followed by a short hike to the falls and of course food.
I was so glad to be able to spend one last time with the family. I didn't feel like we did much with all of us together so this last picnic was much enjoyed by all.
We couldn't be in Provo Canyon with hiking up to the falls. Even Heidi's little dog enjoyed it.

Condo

After 6 weeks of up and down emotions and finagling with the bank, we finally got our condo but a week before we were leaving for China. Our plans of fixing it up and living in it during the summer didn't happen. We were able to paint but that was quite the ordeal as it was. We couldn't decide on a paint color. We ended up with about 12 different splotches of color before we decided on one.

Since it's on the third floor we have a great view from our balcony and master bedroom. We can actually see our friend Chris's house. It's the farthest one on the left. Time to get binoculars and start spying...hahaha. Chris is a great friend that we will enjoy living by when we are in Utah.
The red wall was already painted that way when we bought the condo, so we decided to just leave it for now. It goes well with our decor so it'll be fine.
This is how it ended up looking when we left. The furniture all stayed with the place since it was a BYU approved rental. Gavin's sister Marci and her son Riley moved in just before we left. She has already started redecorating the place by putting in new flooring, toilets, water heater, appliances, and removing the furniture. It's going to look entirely different when we get back there next summer. Marci plans to stay for a few years so she wants it fit her style which is totally fine with us.

Texas Bound

On July 3 we put Jonny on a plane to Harlingen, TX all alone. It was a very difficult day for me because I knew how hard it was for Jonny to leave. I cried the entire night before he left and had random outbursts of tears all day on Saturday. We had sent him to Marine Military Camp for a month with the hopes that he would come back a more responsible person. He left with just the clothes he had on and his backpack with few personal hygiene items. No cell phone, no ipod, no computer...nothing.

I was a little nervous about him flying alone but with his experience traveling abroad, I knew he would be fine. Gavin took him to the airport early Saturday morning for his 7:00 flight out. I didn't go because I didn't want to be crying the whole time so I hugged him goodbye at the house. At 1:00 in the afternoon my cell phone rang and it was Jonny calling to say he made it. I tried not to cry and be positive. I asked what he was doing and he said they were about to cut his hair. I heard someone in the background yell "Say Goodbye and hang up". Which Jonny did immediately. Of course I started crying again. My little boy was hundreds of miles away and I wouldn't get to see or talk to him for a month.

On July 28, Gavin and I flew to Texas to get our boy...or should we say or boy who became a man.
We flew into Harlingen, Texas a day early. They had a field event on Friday night for the parents to attend so during the day Gavin and I had time to explore. We drove out to South Padre Island to the beach. The beaches went on forever. It was very hot with the water as warm as a bathtub. We took a few pictures. Swam a little in the water and that was enough. Not much else you could really do.

After spending time at the beach we were determined to find a good Mexican Restaurant. When we were back in our hotel in Harlingen we saw an add for a place called "The Blue Donkey" (something like that). We easily found the place and headed in. It was some of the best Mexican Food that we had had for a long time.

I ordered fish tacos and with my large Diet Coke with lots of ice...I was in heaven.
On our way back to Harlingen we passed this crazy looking place. Not sure exactly what it was but it had the crazy sculptures all around the outside. I'm thinking it was some type of gift shop all decorated crazy to capture peoples attention to stop. We stopped but only to get pictures, not to go inside.

Our Military Boy

Friday night we were able to go to the Marine Military Academy to finally see our boy. The field events took place on the football field. Parents filled the stands and around the fence watching for their boy. I stood near the entrance to the field because the platoons were marching onto the field in formation. I was looking for Jonny so that I could signal Gavin who was standing a few yards away with the camera. All the boys were dressed the same with shaved heads so it was very difficult to find him. A platoon marched in and I saw Jonny. He was only a few yards away from me but he couldn't look at us. They had to march in with their eyes forward. I kept saying "There he is and pointing" but Gavin didn't see him at all. We missed the photo opportunity because Gavin didn't recognize him. We found out later that they were told that if they looked to the side at their parents or the people they would have to do extra work.

Our first real look at Jonny was when they announced for the 100 yd dash runners to come forward for the race. Jonny was the fastest in his platoon so he was chosen to race against the other platoons. We couldn't believe how grown up he looked and it had only been a month.
Jonny took second in the race.

After the events the parents were able to spend about an hour with their boys. The graduation was in the morning but they allowed the parents time to tour the facilities with their sons. The boys had to stay with their platoons on the field until their parents found them. When I walked to his platoon Jonny came running out with the biggest smile and gave me a big hug. I was afraid he would be too embarrassed to give me my big hugs, but he wasn't at all. He was one happy boy to see us.

We hugged, talked and started walking around when we thought he would probably want to talk to Rachel, Nicole, and Vika. They were back in Utah and were anxious to hear from him so he made his first call back in a month back to the girls in Utah.

My military boy with his shaved head.


Marine Military Academy is adjacent to a large memorial of Iwo Jima. The soldier in the front of the memorial was from this area and is buried here behind the memorial.

Jonny walked us around the school and showed us all the different obstacle courses that they did. This one was part of the leadership course where they had different things to accomplish as a group.

As we walked around Jonny explained all the cool stuff they got to do. He said that he was the only one in his platoon that could climb the ropes to the top. All those thousands of dollars spent on gymnastics I guess paid off here.

Again, his gymnastics training helped him with upper body strength to be able to do this part of the course with no problem at all.

Our little boy isn't so little anymore. He had grown at least an inch in height and was one ripped boy or young man.

This is part of the mud course. Jonny said this was the funnest course because they were able to get wet. It is really hot and humid in this part of Texas, so I totally can understand why they enjoyed this part of the course.
This is the uniform all the boys had to wear for their PT (Personal Training) and workouts. They only had two choices, this and their camo gear. We had to say goodbye for the night but knew that the next time we saw Jonny, we could take him home.
The next morning all the parents were seated to watch the parade of boys in front of the Iwo Jima monument. There were about 400 boys here all dressed in camo uniforms, marching in formation with their platoons.
This is Jonny's platoon but we were too far away to be able to spot which one was him.
The platoons all marched by the stands as they exited the field. Jonny is in the third row from the back closest to us. He is right behind the tall kid. Again they couldn't look at us as they marched by. Jonny took this very serious, as did most of the boys.

After the parade at the monument, we all headed over to the barracks for the official graduation ceremony. Each boy received a certificate of completion. Their name was called and they had to walk in formation to their Platoon Leader where they saluted as they received their certificate. Very military like.
Jonny was part of the E Troop. This was taken outside of his barracks which were very bare. They only had a bed, desk and closet. They shared a bathroom with another room. Each room had two boys in it who had to be together 24/7. This was a great experience for him where he learned team work, responsibility, and lots of discipline. He really left us as a boy and came back a man.

After the ceremony we had about a 4 hour drive to San Antonio where we were flying out to Salt Lake City. All the flights out of Harlingen were booked for that day and we really wanted to get back home so we drove the four hours. Jonny chose to stay in his camo uniform the entire day for the flight home. He looked so handsome in his uniform and was very proud to be wearing it.
After leaving the school, we made a stop at the convenient store where the only thing Jonny wanted was a large Diet Mountain Dew. Of course he got the biggest one they had because it had been a month since he had one. Soda was a privilege at the camp which they only had a few times.
We got to San Antonio and had a few hours before we had to be at the airport. We drove over to the Alamo but decided to just drive by. Even though it was a part of history, it didn't mean much to us. Gavin and Jonny were more interested in going by the Alamo Dome where the Spurs play. As we got closer to the Alamo Dome, we noticed there were crowds of people walking toward the dome. Something was going on and we wanted to know what. We stopped and asked some people who were headed that way. They said that there was an open practice for the Dallas Cowboys. They use the Alamo Dome as their practice field during the summer. Of course Jonny and Gavin wanted to stop so we did.

We were able to see Tony Romo practice a little. We were a little far from where he was practicing but our zoom camera was able to get this shot.